PCJ – Chapter 192 The Great Escape of the Mountain Dogs

The first five yellow puppies that came were fine; even though they hadn’t been at Zhang Jiaohua’s house for long, they were already familiar with his voice. As soon as they heard Zhang Jiaohua, they immediately gathered around him. However, the newly arrived twenty-three puppies didn’t respond to Zhang Jiaohua’s calls at all. No matter how much he shouted, those puppies ignored him. Even Zuan Shanbao couldn’t stand it.

“Woof, woof, woof…”

Zuan Shanbao barked angrily at the puppies. The puppies immediately scrambled and tumbled towards Zhang Jiaohua. They had no sense of discipline. They pushed and shoved, trying to be the first to reach him. Some of the bolder ones even jumped at Zhang Jiaohua’s feet, clinging to his pants. Zhang Jiaohua’s head started to hurt.

“Line up, line up!”

Zhang Jiaohua quickly shouted, but this command needed Zuan Shanbao to convey.

A strange scene unfolded as the puppies, under Zuan Shanbao’s barking, messily lined up in a long, crooked row. Considering they had no training, it was already impressive. Even well-trained police dogs without their trainers wouldn’t be able to line up so neatly.

Despite some imperfections, Zhang Jiaohua was mostly satisfied.

Ma Donghua arrived at the courtyard entrance and was astonished by the scene before her. Her grandson was truly extraordinary. Strange things always seemed to happen around him, and she wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. Initially, she planned to go in and persuade her grandson, but she just watched from outside for a while and then went back home.

Zhang Jiaohua, focused on training the twenty-four mountain dogs, didn’t notice Ma Donghua’s arrival. He was fully immersed in the excitement of training the puppies. “Stand still, stand still, no talking or looking around.”

These were actually phrases used by their PE teacher Gong Ziyuan, which Zhang Jiaohua had directly borrowed.

“Attention! At ease.”

Zuan Shanbao didn’t understand these commands. All the puppies waited for its instructions, but Zuan Shanbao didn’t know what to do. It shook its head, and the puppies mimicked it, shaking their heads too.

Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head, realizing that teaching the puppies to stand at attention and at ease might be too difficult. So he decided to do something else.

Unexpectedly, Zuan Shanbao thought Zhang Jiaohua wanted the puppies to follow its actions, so it scratched its head too. The puppies followed suit, each scratching its head, creating an adorably chaotic scene that made Zhang Jiaohua almost roll on the ground laughing.

Being young, Zhang Jiaohua got playful and forgot he was supposed to be training the dogs.

“March in place, go!”

Zhang Jiaohua demonstrated the marching in place.

Zuan Shanbao stood on its hind legs and mimicked Zhang Jiaohua. The puppies tried to copy but couldn’t balance and tumbled all over the place. This time, Zhang Jiaohua squatted on the ground, clutching his stomach in laughter.

Zuan Shanbao gave Zhang Jiaohua a look as if to say, “As long as you’re happy.”

Meanwhile, after Zhang Jiaohua and Luo Changjun took away the twenty-three puppies, the police dog squad noticed something unusual with the mountain dogs. The food they were given at night remained untouched.

“Captain, something’s wrong with these dogs. Were they scared by that kid’s dog? Or are they sad because all the puppies were taken away?”

Having so many dogs taken away at once also made Zhu Kaixun feel a bit down. “Forget it, leave them alone. They’ll be gone soon anyway.”

Zhu Kaixun checked on the dogs. They lay weakly on the ground, showing no interest in the food in front of them. It seemed they had already sensed their fate.

“I wish I had that kid’s dog training skills. Then I could train you into real mountain dogs, and I wouldn’t have to worry about sending you away.” Zhu Kaixun felt heavy-hearted as he looked at the mountain dogs. If they couldn’t be trained into proper police dogs, they would be eliminated. Since they were already adults, it was impossible to find new homes for them. Zhu Kaixun didn’t dare to think about their future. He had invested a lot of time, energy, and emotion into these mountain dogs. Usually, they looked at him joyfully, but now their eyes were filled with despair.

Feeling despondent, Zhu Kaixun told the soldiers he was going home for a while.

“Keep an eye on things. If anything happens, call me at home.” Zhu Kaixun’s family was well-off; having a phone at home was rare in those days.

“Don’t worry, Captain.”

Night quickly enveloped the police dog squad’s training base. The mountain dog pen was lit by a high-powered incandescent lamp, illuminating the entire area. The mountain dogs, which had been lying down all day, quietly got up one by one. They moved silently, showing a strange mutual understanding.

Although the pen was surrounded by high walls and wire fences, the mountain dogs, having lived there for years, knew where to find weaknesses. The area they lived in was originally vacated by previous world-class dogs. Some of the facilities had been used for many years, and parts of the wire fence were rusted and fragile. With a little effort, the fence could be torn. The mountain dogs had always been obedient, considering the place their home, and never tried to escape.

But now, sensing what was about to happen, they decided to leave.

A tall male mountain dog jumped up, grabbed a section of the wire fence with its front paws, and pulled it down, tearing it open. The torn fence became a makeshift ladder for the dogs to climb over. Fifteen mountain dogs, one after another, squeezed through the gap and ran out.

Outside, the pack followed the strongest male dog, sniffing the road near the squad’s gate for a while before running in a direction—towards where Zhang Jiaohua and Luo Changjun had gone.